Police/fire - Newport News/york/gloucester

*City firefighters pulled three people from their burning second-floor apartments at 2500 Oak Ave. Monday in a pre-dawn fire that investigators said was deliberately set.

A fourth tenant escaped on his own before the heat and flames became too intense.

None of the tenants was injured, but a firefighter broke his ankle, said a department spokeswoman.

Fire officials estimate damage to the building and contents at $25,000.

The fire started at two entrances of the two-story frame building, said Lynn James, Fire Department spokeswoman.

She said investigators found evidence that a flammable liquid was used to start the fire, but did not know what type.

Peace Mission Baptist Church occupied the bottom floor of the white frame building and four apartments were on the second floor, James said.

She said a passer-by saw the flames and shouted to the occupants, who were asleep. The 911 call was received at 2:59 a.m.

Firefighters battled the blaze for about an hour. One of them, Darren Watson, broke his right ankle when a side stairway he was on collapsed, James said. He was treated at Riverside Regional Medical Center and released.

The building, valued at $35,000, is owned by Oscar Coppedge of Roanoke Avenue, James said.

*Newport News detectives arrested two men Friday in connection with a June 9 burglary at the AL&M Music store at 758 J. Clyde Morris Blvd.

Charged with burglary and grand larceny were Nathan C. Williams, 21, of an apartment in the 500 block of Bellwood Road, and Marcellus Williams, 23, of a different Bellwood Road apartment.

The pair are accused of breaking into the business and stealing a keyboard, recorder, drums and a mixer, said Lt. Susie Mowry of the city Police Department.

None of the property has been recovered, Mowry said.

*A woman was sexually assaulted in her room at the Ramada Inn Motel in Newport News in the middle of the day Monday, police said.

A man who appeared to be in his 20s and wearing red shorts and a white T-shirt barged in on the woman and raped her shortly after 1 p.m. in a room at the motel at 950 J. Clyde Morris Blvd., said Lt. Carl Burt of the city Police Department.

The suspect is about 5-foot-11 and weighs 175 pounds, Burt said. The victim, who is in her 30s, is from this area, he said.

Burt said anyone with information about the incident is urged to call the major crimes unit at 247-8706.

YORK

*Four kittens were found beaten to death and left in a bag in a closet of a Yorktown apartment Monday morning, said Capt. Ron Montgomery of the York County Sheriff's Department.

Nothing was reported stolen or damaged from the apartment on Whitt Court, Montgomery said. He said there were no suspects yet. The apartment was apparently entered through a kitchen window.

GLOUCESTER

*Robert Alan Wade, 28, of Grafton, has been charged with a felony count of wounding Joseph Carlton Harper, 46, of Wicomico, during a scuffle in Gloucester County on May 28.